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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Amu (2007) - Hindi/English Movie Review

Rating: 3/5 if you like riot movies...if you are like me then 0/5Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Ankur SharmaDirector: Shonali Bose

I hate it...absolutely...when people make movies on riots and then dedicate it to people who died in it or people who suffered through it...don't make a dedication of movies that the victim's relatives and friends have to live through once again...dedicate something fun instead...or how about build a school in the money you spend making a movie on the subject? However and noble the motive is, it affects people who were affected by the riots and trust me not in a positive way...by bringing awareness to the riots you are going to make the government change its stance or do anything for the victims...so let sleeping dogs sleep and do something more productive...thanks...

I am writing this post after seeing an Indian movie with English dialogues (also available with Hindi dubbing) called Amu. When G picked it up at the Punjabi store I saw that the Singh behind the counter was very happy at his choice...I wondered why...when we got home it was already 10 in the night so G decided that we can watch the other DVD's later and see this one now as it is should be a short one and we could go to bed at a decent time.

The movie started out pretty fine...the casting is also good...the story seems tight...Kokona as Kaju visits India from LA. She is an Indian born but American raised girl and she visits her hometown to figure out her roots...she befriends Ankur Khanna as Kabir and he helps take her around the city of Delhi. Slowly she starts unravelling the truth behind her identity, which is not very pleasant...

The movie revolves around the 1984 riots in Delhi which followed the assasination of Indira Gandhi during which as many as (apparently) 5,000 Sikhs were hunted down and killed mercilessly because the people who killed Indira were Sikhs...the movie has done a decent job in terms of not showing too many visuals regarding how rape/murder/torture happen in such circumstances...but the fact is we can feel the fear...it is imminent...

I should say the movie is well shot and everything is good...but I personally hate such movies...the same reason why I was not in favor of watching movies like Bombay, Parzania, and Hey Ram among others...I get scared and being a girl the very fact that we are more vulnerable under such situations scare me a lot and render many a unpleasant dreams...and now that I have a daughter I only get more and more protective of her everytime I see such movies...

I am sorry I just cannot understand what drives people to watch such movies and also claim that it was shot so realistically...when you should not be enjoying reality of this nature...the tears that roll down my cheeks after seeing these movies cannot describe the feeling of hatred that arises inside me for these directors...they are torturing people who are seeking movies as a medium of entertainment by calling their movie a work of art...I would rather watch boring Sawariya ten times over than watching Amu, Parzania, etc...

IMHO...the movie was good...but I regretted watching it...bad after taste!